As electronic products have evolved, the size of the electronic components have become increasingly smaller, especially in portable products such as electronic pagers. As the components have decreased in size, the density of the interconnections has increased. One type of interconnection includes circuit modules which commonly are utilized and which are soldered by surface mounting technology to a circuit board, commonly called the mother board.
The method of interconnecting the circuit modules to the mother board, include forming complementary solder pads and surface mounting the circuit modules to the mother board by placing them together and reflowing the solder pads. In forming the connection it is critical that the solder pads are uniformly connected to one another without defects, such as voids or cracks.
It has been discovered that the solder pads can include voids and cracks due to the reflowing solder process. These defects can lead to both structural and/or electronic failure of the completed product. Conventional solutions were attempted, but failed to correct the defects and/or had other undesirable effects.
As one attempted solution, the solder reflow profile was adjusted and controlled but did not eliminate the defects. As another solution, spacers or standoffs were utilized, but added an unwanted additional step and caused an increase in the cost of the product. The spacers also could cause another defect by allowing the solder to flow out and away from the spacers, causing a gap and hence a failed electrical connection.